NASDC awarded £100k by Sport England to investigate sport’s role in tackling crime

The National Alliance of Sport for the Desistance of Crime has been granted £100,000 by Sport England to develop the use of sport in bridging the gap between custody and community.

The project will carry out targeted testing, consultation, research and evaluation to collect fresh insight into the lifestyles of young people at risk of anti-social behaviour (ASB) and offending, and the role sport can play in reducing ASB, offending and reoffending.

Delivered in partnership with StreetGames and supported by the Youth Justice Board and the Ministry of Justice, the project will look at four key areas:

i. The effective use of sport in reducing youth anti-social behaviour through training for community safety and health professionals.

ii. The effective use of sport by local authorities, particularly via their Early Intervention strategy and ‘Community Safety Partnership’ to reduce ASB or criminal behaviour.

iii. The effective use of sport by magistrates, police, Youth Offending Teams, and Troubled Families Teams and work to understand how sport could become part of the recommendations to a judge for sentencing as an alternative to a custodial sentence.

iv. Engagement with sport for persistent offenders as part of a structured rehabilitation programme.

This research will take many forms and operate over multiple areas, including: the testing and evaluating of a new ‘Sports Club’ model inside HMYOI Cookham Wood and Medway Secure Training Centre in Kent; testing new approaches to referring in Staffordshire, Kent and Manchester; producing a new toolkit for crime reduction agencies; testing how community sport organisations can help support young offenders’ rehabilitation into society, and many more.

James Mapstone, founder and Managing Director of 2nd Chance Group and Co-Founder and Chair of the NASDC, said Sport England’s funding provides a great step forward for the use of sport as a tool to prevent offending and rehabilitate offenders.

“We are extremely grateful to Sport England for supporting this pioneering and wide-ranging initiative. We look forward to delivering it in partnership with StreetGames and ultimately developing resources across the sector that will use sport to make a positive impact on crime and communities.”

Sport England’s Director for Local Relationships, Chris Perks, commented: “We are really pleased to be supporting this exciting project which has the potential to understand how sport for young people can help to bridge the gap between custody and community.”

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About Sport England

Sport England is a public body and invests more than £300 million National Lottery and government money each year in projects and programmes that help people get active and play sport.

It wants everyone in England, regardless of age, background, or level of ability, to feel able to engage in sport and physical activity. That’s why a lot of its work is specifically focused on helping people who do no, or very little, physical activity and groups who are typically less active – like women, disabled people and people on lower incomes.